Family Reunited
by BethyBoo97
Summary: Not only has Sandra come across a brother but now she's traced a long lost aunt, her dad's sister. Can she tell Sandra what her dad was really like? And will it be what she wants to hear? I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS
1. Chapter 1

What have I done?! All sanity has left my head and its left me here in a small little café, waiting for the person to arrive that I promised myself I'd never get in contact with. Right now you're probably very confused to so I'll go back to the beginning and explain. Last week we were given a new case and at the beginning it seemed normal enough until Strickland pulled me into his office and told me that they'd found male DNA that matched mine and it was after my dad had died. From this it lead to me finding out I had a half brother and not only that but he was a murderer. I went home after that and got thinking which lead to trying to find out if there was any other secret family members I'd never known about and as you've guessed, there was. I found my dad's long lost sister, Rita.

Dad hardly ever mentioned Rita and I don't know why but she may be able to tell me something. So here I am in a little café waiting for her although when I found her I promised myself I wouldn't even get in touch.

I slightly remember Aunty Rita but I have seen her since I was about 5 so I don't know much about her. I haven't told anyone else about this and left work early to meet her so I know I'll have one, if not all the boys on my doorstep later being nosy.

I'm seriously wondering if she's going to turn up now as she's just over an hour late and I'm already on my second cup of coffee and considering leaving.

"Sandra?" A women walks over to me and asks.

"Yes, you must be Rita."

"I am indeed. I was quite surprised you got in touch actually Sandra as I haven't seen you since you were tiny and I wouldn't be surprised if you only ever heard bad things about me."

"Actually, no one ever mentioned you."

"How come you got to looking for me then?"

"It's a long story, but tell me about yourself first."

It's strange because she has the same colour eyes as me although dad had brown eyes but her hair is a faded ginger. She's a bit taller than me and is a lot paler than I remember her.

"Well I'm married and have 3 children, Holly, Jessie and Ryan." Great more family I had no clue about. "I work in child psychology." That's another thing, although she was dad's sister she was 20 years younger than him.

"I have cousins?"

"Yes Sandra. Holly's 30, Ryan's 34 and Jessie is 24."

"I never knew about them." Something she said earlier has just registered in my brain, why would I only have heard bad stuff about her? What went on between my dad and aunt?!


	2. Chapter 2

"Tell me about yourself Sandra, you've heard about me now."

"Well, I work for the met, I'm a detective superintendent and I run a unit called UCOS and we look at unsolved cases."

"Very good, husband, kids?"

"Nope. What I want to know is how come I haven't seen you since I was 5?"

"I'd like to know why you came looking for me."

"I asked first." Sandra said as Rita's expression became one of pain as she thought over the past.

"Sandra I don't think I can tell you, you worshipped the ground your father walked on."

"I think the important bit in that sentence was the fact it was past tense, I've found out a lot about him since I was 5. Just tell me, I'm a big girl I can cope with whatever it is."

"Okay, I don't know if you know but I spent a lot of my teens in a mental health hospital."

"No I didn't, God, are you okay?"

"There was never a point when I wasn't okay Sandra, you see the thing is they thought I was harm to myself but I never was. It was your dad who got me put in there." Sandra began to think that maybe her aunt was mad, how could the fact she was a harm to herself her dad's fault, sure she'd found out a lot about her dad but this is just too out of his character. "He used to have a terrible temper, if he got in the slightest bit annoyed he'd take it out on me and use me as a human punch bag, whenever mum or dad asked how I got all the cuts and bruised he'd tell them I was doing it to myself. It got to the point that by the time I was 14 I couldn't go out showing any skin as I was so bruised and battered and sometimes I was in so much pain I'd pass out or I couldn't walk, this was when mum told my school what was going on and well by that afternoon I found myself in a small room being monitored by people I'd never met."

No, this couldn't be true he was a gentle man he never even raised his voice at home, there was no way he'd hit anyway let alone do them so much damage. She couldn't believe this so in her mind she decided to ask more questions to try catch Rita out, like she would do a suspect.

"How long were you in there?"

"4 years. I lost my childhood because of your dad, I spent everyday with people who really did need the help that the hospital provided."

"Well if as you say you never harmed yourself and it was all my dad, how come they didn't let you straight out when they realised you weren't the problem?"

"They were getting ready to release me after a month and were setting about getting me back out into public so I had a day pass to get out to see my family and I came back bruised and battered. They thought that I began harming myself again outside of the place because I was no longer being watched. This happened every time they were prepared to move out until he moved out and got married to your mum."

None of this made sense to Sandra but even she had to admit that she couldn't find the holes in her story, all she had to do now was excuse herself and check if what she was saying was true and do a bit of digging. She pulled her phone out of the pocket to find she didn't even need to make an excuse up.

"Sandra, I'm on my way over. We were all worried by the way you left early and well I'm the only one stupid enough to try find out what's going on when you're in a rubbish mood." Read the text she'd got from Gerry.

"I'm sorry I have to go, work stuff. I'm surprised the boys cope 15 minutes at the office without me." They both laughed before Sandra began again. "I'll ring you and we'll do this again.


	3. Chapter 3

"Right boys I need you to look up Rita Cromwell." Sandra told them now that everyone was in and settled down.

"What for? She's not involved in any of our cases. Who is she?" Brian asked curiously.

"Do I ask you lot questions when you run searches on people?" Sandra asked.

"Yes." They all chorused.

"Well I'm the boss, I'm allowed to ask questions now are you going to run a search on her or not?!"

"Yeah, I'll do it now." Brian replied as the other two looked on curiously.

"Anything?" Sandra asked as she walked back out after having done her own research. She'd tried to get into her aunty's medical records but unless it was linked to a crime she knew there was no way.

"She was connected to the murder of Ian Rendel." Brian told her.

"The case is unsolved right?"

"Officially yes, but we know it was either completely down to your dad or he was just involved in disposing of the body and covering up the death."

"Yes but he may not be a killer, put it up on the board Brian."

"And you think Strickland will sanction that?" Jack asked as he tried to be the voice of reason.

"Let him try and stop me."

"Sandra you can't." Gerry tried.

"You watch me. I'm off to see Rita Cromwell."

"Who?"

"My aunt. She's a witness to this case."

"Rita." Sandra began bluntly as they both sat down in the small cafe where they first met.

"Sandra!" Rita began happily. "I didn't expect to see you so soon."

"I didn't either but I need to talk to you. What do you know about Ian Rendel's death?"

"You really want to get into this?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Me and my friend Deirdre were out on a walk with her baby, on the way to meet its dad. Out of no where Ian came out and killed her. Your dad had a quick temper and hit Ian and he fell back and hit his head."

"You were there?"

"Yeah, I couldn't have done anything though. It was over quickly and I was keeping the baby out of it."

"Who was the Deirdre?"

"Deirdre Mortimer."

"My dads bit on the side and Tom's mum."

"I didn't know you knew about Tom."

"Well I do."

"Your dad loved him but had to give him up so that he didn't hurt you. He loved you so much. No matter how much I hate him I could never fault how great a father he was to you."

"Close the case. I don't want to know anything else."

"It's fine, we took it down while you were out, we knew it wasn't a good idea."

"My dad may have done some plain stupid things but he loved me and I will never forget the terrible things he did but knowing he loved me more than anything helps."


End file.
